Can any of your readers inform me what crime or offence this "obnoxious priest" had been guilty of, as to be committed a "close prisoner;" and that Richard Fermour, Esq., who had relieved him during his incarceration, should, for this apparently simple act of charity, have incurred a præmunire, for which he was subjected to so heavy a fine as the forfeiture of his estate? I should be glad of any further particulars respecting him, or to be referred to any work in which an account of him is recorded; and also to be informed by whom the Peerage of England, quoted by Dr. Willis, was compiled, when published, and whether it contains a more copious account of this reprehensible ecclesiastic.
Arthur R. Carter.
Camden Town.
[Richard Fermor was a merchant of the staple at Calais, and having acquired a considerable fortune, located himself at Easton Neston, co. Northampton. Being a zealous Romanist he refused to conform to the Reformed faith, and thus rendered himself obnoxious to the court; and being accused of administering relief to Nicholas Thane, formerly his confessor, who was then a prisoner in Buckingham Castle for denying the supremacy of the king, he was committed to the Marshalsea in July, 1540, and was afterwards arraigned in Westminster Hall, though nothing could be proved against him, except that he had sent 8d. and a couple of shirts to the imprisoned priest. He was adjudged to have incurred a præmunire, whereby all his lands and goods became forfeited, and the rapacious monarch enforced the sentence with the most unrelenting severity. See Baker's Hist. of Northamptonshire, vol. ii. p. 142.; Collins's Peerage, edit. Brydges, vol. iv. p. 199.; and Lipscomb's Buckinghamshire, vol. ii. p. 570.]
Churchwardens, Qualification of.—Can any of your correspondents give the title and price of any work which will define the qualifications requisite for filling the office of churchwarden? The case on which the question has arisen is that of a country parish divided into two townships, each township naming a warden. One of these is a dissenter, and seldom or never attends church; the other is said not to be a householder. Both of these are, by many of the parishioners, considered ineligible, owing to these circumstances. Should any one send the required information, you would oblige by allowing it to appear in the next Number of "N. & Q.," where it would be sure to be seen, and thankfully acknowledged by
B. B. F. F. T. T.
[Our correspondent will find the required information in Prideaux's Churchwarden's Guide, 5th edit. 1850, price 6s., who has devoted sect. ii. "to the persons liable to be chosen to the office of churchwarden, and the persons disqualified and exempt from serving that office." (Pp. 4-17.) Consult also Cripps's Practical Treatise on the Law relating to the Church and the Clergy, 8vo. 1850, pp. 176-201., price 26s.]
Sir John Powell.—In Vol. vii., p. 262., of "N. & Q." is an inquiry respecting Sir John Powell, and an answer given, in which there must surely be some mistake, or there must have been two Sir John Powells.
I beg to give the following extract from Britton's History and Antiquities of the Abbey Church of Gloucester:
"A full-length marble statue, in judicial robes, erected by John Snell, Esq., to the memory of his uncle, Judge Powell, who in 1685 represented this city, his native place, in parliament. He was successively a Justice of Common Pleas and the King's Bench, and was one of the Judges who tried the seven Bishops, and joined in the declaration against the King's dispensing power. For this, James II. deprived him of his office, July 2, 1688; but William III. created him, first a Baron of the Exchequer, then a Judge in the Common Pleas, and on June 18, 1702, advanced him to the King's Bench, where he sat till his death, June 14, 1713."